Wheat product and the process of making the same



Dec. 1,` 1942. Y

o. w. FISHER Erm.

WHAT PRODUCT AND THE PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Patented-Dec. l, 1942 IY WHEAT rnonucr AND'THE PROCESS oF MAKING 'ma SAME Y orla WallaceFisher, wll'l'lam L.A Haley, Vami .Arthur J. King, Seattle, VWash.,assignors to Fisher Flouring Mills Co., Seattle, Wash., a corporation ofWashington v Application June 27, 1939, kSerial No. 281,402

3 Claims.

Our invention relates-to the art of a new wheat product for making breadand the like, and the process of making the same.

, While 1it is recognized, first, that wheat flour in ureadsuppliesseveral minerals important in the Vhuman diet, andA second, that thewheat germ is a portion of the wheat particularly rich in such Amineralsand vitamins B, E and G, nevertheless, the common milling practice is toremove such wheat germ, together with even the lillev bran,l

because the retention of these portions'of the Vwheat introduces factorswhich operate, amongV other matters, against the'provding ofproperbaking and keeping qualities of the milled product. In our invention wego contrary to the commonmilling practice above described and include inourV ground wheat product: the Wheat germ and the iineV bran and. at'thesame-time yeliminate the factors which'operate against the providing ofproper baking and keeping qualities j of the milled product. i f A Y lIt is a primary purpose to provide an article of manufacture, suchasbread or the like prepared from the wheat productof our invention ordiscovery characterized 'in having a greatly aug- Ymented nutritivevalue-one wherein the mineral and vitamin content greatly exceeds thatnor- We have discovered how to subject the same to l proper control.V

Our discovery involves une adding af wheat germ to the wheat flour in apercentage which renders thegerm content of our .wheat Vproduct greaterthan it would be in the wheat which would be required to make thecorresponding amount of wheat' flour. Remembering that approximately 25to 30% of i-the wheat kernel is 'discarded as offal, leaving only '15 to70% as 1 endosperm or white our, it is manifest` that our inventionrelates to increasing the germ content o f the wheat product ofourinvention above the germ content that'wouldebethere if the 25 to 30%oilal were not discarded but were retained with the 75 to 70% endospermflour. Also our discovery further involves the adding of the inner (andonly the inner) portion of the bran part ol the wheat. The wheat productof our invention or discovery, which includes the added wheat germ andbran portion, is suitable for bakingV bread andy the like, i. e.,besides bread it is suitable for rolls,pancakes, crackers, doughnuts,pie

crust, coffee cakes, and all types Vof leaven goods.

It'isimportant to know in general something l of the nature of the wheatkernel and ysome oi the principles of thev milling of flour and the re--quirements for bakingproperties to understand cur invention ordiscovery.-

Wheat occupies the position of greatest importance on the list of foodsderived from plants. The history of milling wheat closely 'parallels theprogress of civilization. Wheat is the only known grain from which flourcan be made which, when mixed with water, will. produce a suzlllcientamount of'that tenacious, elastic material called ifgluten, necessary tothe production of a light loaf of bread. Some wheats are'planted in theyfall of the year. They sprout'and grow a little during. the warm-fallweatherVthen mature the Ymally obtaining in bread or like products. Itis following summer. These are called winter wheats. `Other wheats areplanted in-the 'spring and grow to maturity in the summer. These arecalled spring wheats. The best flouris usually made from wheats thatmature during hot,` dry weather. Y

Bread wheatconsists primarily of two speciescommon wheats, some hard andsome soft, and

club wheats, usually soft-although there ,are

many different varieties of Veach specle..l The same varietieswhen grownunder different conditions. of soil, climate and moisture'produce floursof different bread-making characteristics. These many variations in the`quality of wheats make necessary the highly developed systems of testingand blending in order to produce uniform ours for lbread makingand otherpurposes.

A kernel of wheat yields several mill products: First, the offal, whichordinarily amounts, under y conditions vof commercial milling, yto-about25-30 percent of the grain, and comprises-(1)V bran,

, which is the coarse flaky particles of the seed coating, (2)shortsmade up of ne bran, germ meal, etc., and (3) red dog, moreiloury,but still containing much of the brousmaterial from the outer layers ofthe wheat berry; second, the wheat flour, which represents,undercondltions of commercial milling,l about '15 to '10% of the grain,is formed of (1) second clear, which is the low grade ilour obtainedfrom the layers of cells next to the seed coat, (2) rst clear, which isa higher grade of iiour coming principally from the inner portion,yorwhite, floury center of the wheat kernel. The actual manufacturingprocess, h'owever, is very much involved and is not-by any means assimple as the three steps might indicate.

Floursi'are often milled from a mixture of'several wheats aftercleaning, which is accomplished by repeated use of various screens-andseparators to remove foreign seed, strawsfsticks, and sand; by passingthrough currents of air to remove dust and chaff, and over magneticseparators tot lremove bits of metal, and finally by Washing in *Y cleanpure water.

VBakery ilours are usually milled from a particular variety 'of wheat,the variety ch'osen de-` pending onthegtype of flour desired. Familyours, orV all-purposeilours, 'are usually milled from a select varietyof wheat, or a wheat mixture made by blending several. varieties, each`variety being chosen for the, particular baking,

characteristics which it imparts to Vthe'finishedy flour. Flours'may bemade vfromV afblend of `,wheats, or from a blend of flours by using-al1`or apart of the flour obtained from one wheat mixture, and by blendingthis with flour obtained from otherwh'eatmixtures.

After being thoroughly cleaned and properly conditioned by exposure ltowater, the wheat is passed between corrugated steel rolls that revolv atslightly different speeds,.togproduce the breaking or crushing effectupon the grain. From each pair of rolls the broken grain or stock, as itis called, passes through sifters which remove whatever'fiour hasbeenliberated, while th'ecoarser particles are classified according'tosize and returned to other rolls, where the `processiis repeated`again'and .again until all the Vlinner portion (endosperm) vhas beenremoved,

leaving only the bran. After the endosperm vhas vbeen separated from thebran, this stock is of a very yellow color, and for these severalVreasons it has always been deemed necessary to eliminate said germportion from the best flour. A fundamental feature of our discovery andinvention resides in our going directly contrary to this commonpracticeof the art of eliminating the wheat germ from the final flour, and atthe saine time our discovery comprises providing a vwheat product whichwill be characterized by meeting the requirements'forV baking propertieswhich have become standard by long experience and custom.

'I'he best baking properties of the flour are present when vtheendosperm content is maxi- -mum and the Abran is absent or reduced to aminimum, -according to the experience and teaching of theJ milling artheretofore.- The purer the endosperm, i. e., the freer it is of bran andgerm, the better in quality, it has been thought, is the resultingproduct. In milling, those stocks containing the Wheat germ have beenfound by experience to be more subject to becoming infested and presenta, special difficulty in keeping the same free of infestation. It ispossible to make flour less susceptible to infestation because only theendosperm cells are retained, since a finer sieve may be employed andthereby prevent even the smallest insect eggs from passing into theflour. Since la portion of our productviscomparatively coarse, thenormal method of preventing infestation was not applicable and thispresented a further difllculty in providing a commercially practicalwheat product, such as constitutes our invention. We overcame thisdifficulty by using extreme methods of infestation elimination,` as byfumigating and is .further .reduced! by passing between smoothA steelrolls, and purified by passing through silk bolting cloths overa currentof air which lifts out any light bran particles that-may have escapedthe 'sifting operations. Little f streams ofour are obtained' afterpractically every grinding and separating operation. Each of thesestreams, coming from different steps in the milling process,fhasslightly different baking characteristics and, hence, the experiencedmiller can, by: selecting various streams, produce many diilerentqualities of -flour .from one wheatjmixture. When only the'best streamsare taken, the

4resulting flour isknown as'a short patent. If

all the streams are `run together, the `flour is known as a straight or100 percent flour. Patent fiours are straights, Y Y Y Y Y From the aboveit is manifest thatfone of the Vusually whiter in colorl than objects ofthe milling operations is to obtain the*- finely groundendosperm freedoi' all parts of the kernel such asA the bran and the germ. `In general,the resulting productis also referred to as "white flour. Thisgermportion contains an loil and said portion is high in ash content andY 'I'he baking properties ofcourse also dependI upon the quality of thewheat. Wheat will vary even from the samelocalities with differentseasons, and will also vary with different soils and climaticconditions-for the particular varieties of'grain.V4 In ordinary milling,it is recognized and established (1) that putting back into the flourth'e wheat'germ deteriorates or impairs the baking properties, and (2)likewise the adding of the bran deteriorates 'or impairs the bakingproperties. Our invention provides for the adding of both of these partsof the grain, Le.,

the germY and the bran as herein set forth, and

at the same time provides for not impairing or deteriorating the bakingproperties', but gives an improved product along. other lines `as hereinset forth, including uniformity of baking results.

Several months of commercial experience covering the varying climaticconditions of the Pacific Coast Statesh'as demonstrated a -mostremarkable uniformity inA the baking results or proper- Y ties of thewheat product constituting our invenv.tion. Among other .propertiescharacterizing our product are those of aVA better taste or flavor, abetter texture and greatly. increasednutritive value. rf i One .of theexacting requirements for suitable baking properties of 'a 'wheatproduct relates to the character of the loaf resulting from using theproduct in baking. A bold, well-risen loaf of proper volume for theweight is essential, i. e.,

. it must have the propervdegree of lightness per volume when baked. Thetop of the loaf should be convex, as opposed toa concave top, for loavesother than sandwich, salt-rising and like special types of bread. Otherqualities besides volume of a standard loaf of bread are: propertexture, crumb and crust color, and absence of large holes. An object ofour invention and discovery is to provide a loaf which provides forcharacteristics in all respects equal to that attained by using whiteflour in the production ofan open top loaf, as well as additionalqualities and features hereinafter set forth. Among these additionaladvantages or qualities may be named the following: Animproved fiavor,and a greatly improvedavored toasttoasting seems to bring out ,v theflavor in the loaf made with our newly discov-v ered wheat product. Theloaf made from our wheat product contains much more of the naturalvitamins and minerals, i.' e., the vitamins and minerals are present ina percentage far in vexf cess of any white bread, and more than in wholewheat bread, and at the same time does not contain Athe/rough fibrousbra-ndthat is found in` Whole wheat bread. The wheat product of ourReferring to the drawing:

Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic sketch of four separate millunits forgrinding different types of wheat at the same time, selected portions ofthe product of which milling operation are combined with theconcentrate," 'to form the wheat product of our discovery or invention;and Y f Fig. 2 illustrates the milling process whenonly one milling unitis available.

Mills I, 2, 3A and l are operating `respectively upon fourdifferentwheats. The millingVV opera- ,tion first resultsiny dividing the brokenWheat into flour and oflal. The flour is divided into first clear,second clear and patent flour. The offalis divided into red dog,`sh0rts,and bran,

with a portion of the germseparated. The patent flour is taken from mill#2, and, after ageing, 82% is intermixed with the other ingredients ofour wheat product. The inner bran to the extent of 75% is mixed with 25%of thegerm to discovery does not prove rirritating to the stomach orintestines, because there is 'present only the inner or less fibrousbran part of the grain. Furthermore, the loaf made from the product ofour discovery has better keeping qualities than breadlonger. Y d

For example, many bakers with an increasing j asheretofore made, i. e.,it will'keep its lfreshness volume of sale of bread produced from ourwheat product are finding it unnecessary to bake every day because ofthis quality of keeping'unusually Y fresh. Let it benoted that a loaf ofbread may have a keeping quality but this does n'ot mean `itdwill keepfresh, i. e., keep from`beco'ming what is sometimes referred toas stale.It is this feature of greatly extended period of remaining fresh that Wewish to pointout as characterizing the loaf formed with our Wheatproduct.

It is generally accepted that white flour should Y germ meal mixture,there is added concentrate Each be allowed to age a certain perioddoftime before y it is used. Our invention provides for our product tocomply with this requirement, and atthe same time for the germ portionto be relatively A fresh. In`milled products, as heretoforemanufactured, all constituent "elements were substani tiallyof the sameage. However, one of the con" ditions which had to' be facedVlx1-providing the wheat product constituting our invention was that onepart had to be aged, while-'the lother Y This we have accomplished'inhad 'to be fresh. our product.

- Another object of ourinvention is'to provide form the mixture, styledherein germ meal from hard wheats. AThis same operation occurs withrespect to the inner bran and germ portions of the grain from the othermills operating uponsoft wheats, and/or'hard white wheats.

A mixture styled herein, germ meal mixture, is d next formed of onethird ofthe germ mealfrom the hard wheat and twoV thirds from hard whiteand soft wheat.' Of-this germ meal mixture, 17% for optimum results isadded to the 82% of the wheat flour, 82% being for the optimum results,and to this combination ofthe wheat flour and to the extent of 1% foroptimumrresults. of these ingredients, flour, germ meaLgermrneal mixtureand concentratewill now be set forth separately as a wheat product whichwill make provision fori.

the properr fermentation tolerance as required Aby the baking trade. f

In g'eneral, our'invention and discovery relates to providing a wheatproduct comprising the following materials and these preferably in theoptimum percentage indicated:

(a) 82% of wheat flour (preferably a flour) g (b) 17% of a mixturecomprising`75% inner bran and 25% raw wheat germ; and

(c) 1%V of a mixture referred to hereinas concentrate of 94.7% patentVflour, 0.3% potassium bromate, and 5.0% malted wheat flour. 'The wheatflour. is preferably a blend5 from a patent plurality *of flours, and ispreferably aged. Likewise the inner bran and wheat germ preferably Aareblends from a plurality. of mills operating on different grains. Thisprovides the ideal combinationl to insure most desirable flavor.

Vto 'form germ mealV mixture.,4

lMaxirnni'n percent of, germ v.f; 50

i' AYGerm mealrmz'ture I i meals from different units f f Per centOptimum percent germ meal fromV hardV Wheat':... ...V

Minimum percent germ meal fromvhard Remainder from hard white and/onsoftwheats @i f' -Y L, 1'

I Per cent Optimum percent germ4 meal mixture "flour mixture f Minimumpercent germmeal mixture in germ Y d flour mixture 4 Y germ meal mixturegerm n flour mixture 1 1 24 Maximum percent to their-percentages, etc.,as fol-VV are combined y ingerm l It will be understoodthat the productsneed not come from all four mill units, but may come from one or more ofsaid units.

Referring to the drawing in Fig. 2: InFigure 1 the combining of variousproducts from four different milling units was illustrated, while herethe combining of the products whereonly a single milling unit isavailable, is illustrated.

tation we have discovered that before we could take advantage of theaddition of the wheat germ, means 'of properly controlling the activatoragents and the enzymes was necessary. y Y

Accordingly, the catalytic activity of the enzymes aggravated positivelyby the addition of the wheat germ had to be carefully adjusted to theeffect upon the all-important factor--the elasticity of the gluten. Itwill be understood that there may be present naturally ay proteolyticenzyme activator in the ordinary endosperm iiour, but not ordinarily insuch quantity as to present dimculties in common baking practice. Suchenzyme activator is present in whole wheat flour and is present in anobjectionable quantity. This i'eature contributes to `the dimculty ofproviding whole wheat bread in other than compact loaves.

v Such compactness of loaf, itis submitted, ac-

counts for the `vlimited use of whole wheat bread. However, the 'wheatgerm which is'added tends to increase many, many fold the supply of theactivator.` After extended experimentation, our

Thegluten of the ilour constitutes that elastic cellular medium, whichis necessary in the dough topermit the expansion of the dough, whichexpension in turn is induced by the gas producing agents. Manifestly,the lightness of bread is primarily dependent upon the character of the4i gluten, and hence the proper conditioning of all factors which affectthe gluten is fundamentally and extremely important in bread making. The

elasticity and tenacity of thev gluten varies greatly Ourvexperimentation indicates that wheat germ with the various wheatsandeven with the same 1 variety of wheat whengrown in different soils andunder different climatic conditions. V0n the one hand, the gluten mustnot be too stiiily elastic (too resistant to the expansion forces), andon the other hand it must not be too weakly elastic (too readily brokendown, so that the gas has no envelcping medium for retaining the gasnecessaryinrendering the bread light). f

Ordinary flour, such as-flour from the endosperm, contains variousenzymes.: With the addin -tion of the wheat germ in apercentageexceeding that in the wheat which would be required to makethe percentage of said patentyilou'r present in our wheat product, theintroduction of enzymes is very,- very, greatly increased. yAlso, theaddition of the bran greatly increases the introduction of enzymes.Thus, the quantity of enzymes is so greatly augmented vthat anaggravated condition discovery hasresulted inproviding a wheat productcapable of making baked products, such as bread and thelike. havingasuperior flavor and being far richer in vitamins B, E, and G found inthe wheat than are present in either white iiour l or whole-wheatflour,.i. e., inexcesslof any bread prior to our invention which iscommercially acceptable.

, Li'ttle'is known ofthe chemistry of the enzymes.

which is'a'dded tends to increase the supply of the activator, whichdoes increase the proteolytic enzyme activity. destroy or lessen theeffect of this activator. It is a part of our discoverythat the physicaland chemical characteristics' ofthe proteins in the 4our are mainlyresponsible as the elements which may. be subjected to control.` Ourexperiments .have developed the factthat by the addition of what weherein call an enzyme and activator vcontrol agen e" we areenabled toregulate the A enzyme activity. The'term enzyme and activator ing agentsin the formof control agent" cation-and the as herein used, both in thespecificlaims", may1A bedefined, as the resultof ,our experimentatiomasincluding oxidizbromate, iodate, or per- 'sulfate and/orinactivatorssuchas ascorbic acid order to have the flour provide factors which willA' meet the exacting demands of baking requirements generally andespecially commercial baki ing requirements.v Certain of'these enzymeswork upon the starches and tend toincrease the gassing power of theilour, such as those called diastase.-

Other enzymes work upon theproteins,.such as the proteinase.V Thisaction Hupon the 'proteins is beneficial to a certain extent in mosttypes of of the gluten is desirable. To a certain extent this is similarto the action occurring at one of the for the enzyme activity. Thus, inour experimen- V- flour because some breakdown or some softening anddehydroascorbic acid. The fenzyme and activator control agent" which wepreferably employ results which must receive special attention inV ispotassium bromate. Accordingly, with the aid of these enzyme andactivator Icontrol-agents" wewcan provide a product` which will meet theY, y Y Percent Wheat flour 94.7 Potassium Tbromate, etc 0.3 vMaltedwheat ilour s 5.0

The essential part of this concentrate is the "enzyme 'and activatorcontrol agent. In the preferred mixture given, thisY control agent isVpotassium .bromate. which, according to our experimentation, we havediscovered to give the l "best results. While the preferred form of theconcentrate mixture includes wheat flour andmalted wheatflour, these-arenot necessary.- By forming a mixture indicated as the preferredlmixture,

the small amount of enzyme and activator control agent may be morereadily and uniformlyy We have sought to control or ...2go-ame ttig @areuiniluneoawheataemit '-...Q .It lillecie ,carefully cqntraitnegdiafmg.iialc-fllaaeteagtae lialitemiiieeeesthemited e i firate..gigantescas-tto i be a less percent than 0.5% is ta ,e ,s resu arerl, ve I as follows: Optimum loa'f volume of 148 L J lin.

than 0.5 is employed, the volume of the loaf is below standard. Forexample, if 0.3% is em,

ployed, the loaf has only 123 cubic inches.

When a greater amount than 1.5% is used, vour experiments show that thefermentation is upset and a volume of loaf below the standard is theresult. For example, if 2.0% is employed the loaf has only 135 cubicinches. The small amount of enzyme and activator control agent employedis one of the reasons why we prefer to introduce it along with the otherparts of said concentrate.. In this manner the enzyme and activatorcontrol agent may more readily be uniformly intermixed with the otheringredients of the wheat product.

In preparing our wheat product our experiments show that a certain typeof wheat flour especially matured and aged is preferable. What is meantby this certain type of our will next be considered. In the ordinary artof baking when Wheat meal (such as whole wheat or graham) is added towhite flour, the effective gluten percentage is reduced and accordinglyit was the practice to add a white flour of a character having an extrahigh protein content which would provide the additional strong gluten tomake up for the wheat meal. Accordingly, in our experimentation Weinitially tried this ordinary teaching of the art and employed flour ofa strong protein content. However, we found that this did not hold truein our wheat product and that a more satisfactory result was obtained inthe product of our invention when white flour with average proteincontent and a more mellow type of gluten was employed. l

For optimum results the optimum percent of said preferred type of whatflour, specially matured and aged, which may be employed in germ flourmixture is 82%.` .-flhe minimum percent in germ our mixture is 75%, the`nriaximum percent in germ our mixture is 95%. This-'wheat flour may bemade on one mill only or a combination of two or more, i. e., a blendmay be employed.-

The germ meal (see Fig. l) is separated out and comprises inner bran,and germ, and in the preferred formula an optimum percent of germ in thegerm meal is 25%; a minimum percent germ in the germ meal is 15%; and amaximum percent of germ in the germ meal is 50%.

If a wheat product embodyingour invention is to be comprised of as muchas 95% of wheat flour, then to have the excess of Vgerm present,-whichfeature characterizes our invention, it would Jobviously be necessary toadd a substantially pure germ instead of germ meal. In any event, the 7,percentage :ofz germ'tprsent' would ,-fftomtgermima-rs demise yeymagjgsugutmssgggpxggg@ ghtaeaigond, thougnenotftheibest prouuct. nitilfaanininrumpercent 'germ'meal {',frrn Hard wheat Ago, einemffimunnzpereeiitigerinfmei in tur results, but germ meal mixture may bemade from either hard or soft wheat without blending with somewhat lessfavorable results. Our experiments show the effect upon the volume' ofthe loaf of the addition of pure wheat germ to wheat flour to be asfollows, i. e., a wheat flour producing a normal 148 cubic inch volumeloaf, in general will be affected as follows:

Wheat flour 95% 90% 85% Pure wheat germ- 0% 5% 10% 15% Cu. inch volume..148 131 117 98 According to our experimentation, if one departs from the82% of the patent our content either way, there is a failure to obtainthe combination of avor and other advantageous baking properties, and ofcourse in the degree that more than 82% is employed of the patent flourthen the lessened quantity of minerals and vitamins will be availablewhich are found in the added germ meal.

The varying of the percentage of the various ingredients (wheat ilur,germ meal mixture and concentrate) has the effect of varying the volumeof the loaf, color, texture and flavor as set forth in the followingtable:

Our product has met the test of production on commercial scale and thisovera period of several months, and also has met the test of the bakingrequirements and has met the approval of the `l`trade and consumer. 65

V1. A ground wheat product in a dry form comprising a mixture ofgrawwheat germ and bran, said mixture constituting 4% to 17% of the finalproduct Iand said ravrwheat. germ vconstituting a greater percentageofrthe final product than the percentage present in wheat; a. secondmix- 'l ture o1' -potassium bromate intimately intermixed -with wheatiiour and malte'dV whtnour, said second mixture constituting .5% to ofthe flnalproduct `and said potassium bromate. constitutinz .091594. to..0045 oi. the; final product;

i and, wheat liiourmconetitutinz substantially the balance or; the 7iinal product.` intimately inter- Jvithfandenvelopins :mid:y rawgerm andsaid potassium bromate, whereby a wheat product i in a; dryform isprovidedfcharacterized--by remaininirfxjee` from xanciditxry forrelativelylong periods of time.

`2A methodlofrmekmg e nundwhtbodct in dry form comprising the stepsor(a) formingVv aiy mikture of inner, bran, and raw wheat :erm from hard.wheat having wheat germ present .-in

forming a second mixture oilerm meel oi inner bran, and rawvyvheatsermirom-soft wheathav-J in: wheat germpresent inthe range ot 15%' to,5,0% or saidlmixture; (c) forming athird mixture comprising one-thirdoi the germ meal from said nrst'mixture and two-thirde-from the zermmeal-iourth mixture comprisinx'- bromat of f about:0.3%1melted wheat'iiourfofabout" l0%,

t and'wheat viiour v tooo'mplet'e'thel balen of "the frnixtiu'e: and (e)iormin'l thev iinalemixture havinzifeaid'third mixture present-intherange of 4%- to24%.'1fthe fourth mixturev V`px'-'eserit in the @ranceoi' 0.5% to"1'. 5%;j'andfaddin wheat nouroi "reduced proteolyticactivity to there to constitute 3. Afzround'wheatproductin adry formcomyprisinz raw wheat lem. laid wheat lerm beine j present' in'apercentage exceedinz'thatin the jwheet employed in makina .the wheatnourV constituent hereof; potassium bromate in the range Frange of 96 to88%.;

second mixture; (d) .forming s. 2

of 0.0015% toj 0.0045%,|nd wheat iiour in the om WALLACE .A "v'AnTHUnmKINa

